


A Change of Place

by tellezara



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Body Swap, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-05
Updated: 2013-08-05
Packaged: 2017-12-22 13:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/913762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tellezara/pseuds/tellezara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Response to Kink Meme prompt asking for bodyswapped Cammy and Rhoda.</p><p>Cammy pulls her usual passenger-harrying tactics on a VIP passenger, much to Rhoda's dismay. As always, she attempts to pick up the pieces, but the VIP passenger turns out to be a Borginian priest who has other ideas on how they can make amends...</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Change of Place

Rhoda stood at the doorway, considering her options. She had to do this every time she went to wake Cammy up. There was the question of whether she needed Cammy's help, whether she needed the help enough to warrant the torrent of half-asleep abuse she would receive, and whether Cammy would actually be any use for the task she had in mind anyway. On top of that, there would be the near-enough guarantee that Cammy would vent her disgruntlement at her rude awakening in the form of guerilla tactics against the hapless passengers receiving her attentions.

But today, it was a busy flight, and they had a VIP on board. There was no way she could do all the meals on her own and give the VIP the attention they expected.

"Cammy?" she shook her gently.

"Oh, fuck off, Rhoda," an uncoordinated hand came up to swat at her, and missed, to fall back down again. Snores issued a few moments later - Rhoda knew they were fake, so she wouldn't be dissuaded.

"Cammy, I really need your help with the meals."

"You never need my help with anything, Perfect-Pants."

"I do, Cammy - I can't do all this by myself and look after the VIP," Rhoda tried to keep her voice level - it was no use shouting at Cammy, she never reacted because she didn't care.

"Urrrrrgh, for fuck's sake," Cammy rolled over, her fringe flopping over her face. She clawed it back irritably. "Can you not bloody multitask like everyone else? It's not that hard to shove a meal trolley up and down the cabin and tell the VIP to shut up when he starts whining."

"Hard enough that I'd bother to get you out of your bed," Rhoda retorted.

There was a pause as Cammy considered this, a few strands of fringe falling back over her eyes. Rhoda did let her away with a lot. She blew her fringe out of her eyes with a huff.

"Alright alright," she threw the cover back, swinging around to sit upright and rub the sleep out of one eye.

"You've fallen out again," Rhoda sighed.

"Ah, whatever," Cammy lifted the top part of her uniform and shoved the errant breast back inside. She claimed to have lost the front bib of her uniform, although Rhoda knew full well it was tucked away at the back of the locker, and it was just another tactic to harry the passengers.

Cammy reached for her hat, which was slung carelessly over the hook on the back of the bed.

"Right, what's on?" she yawned.

"Can you do the meals, while I look after the VIP?"

"Nah, meals are boring as hell. Give me the VIP."

"Like hell I'd give you the VIP," Rhoda said icily.

"You know you want to give me the VIP," Cammy grinned wolfishly. "He'll never ask for anything again once I've finished with him."

"And he'll never fly with us again?"

"That'd be convenient!"

"That's not convenient at all!"

"VIP, or I go back to bed."

"Augh, Cammy!" Rhoda threw her hands up vexedly. "Can you not just do the meals and then you can go back to bed - it'll be quicker, it'd make my life easier, it's less effort for you, and can you not just do that, just this once?"

"Nah, I'm awake now - I want to tackle something worth my time. Like the VIP," Cammy rubbed her hands together. "Heh." Then she strode out into the corridor, leaving Rhoda still standing in the room.

"Oh, God help me," Rhoda lamented, hurrying after her.  
"Well, good afternoon, sir," Cammy was the epitomy of politeness - and loudness - as she spoke into the ear of the sleeping man.

The man visibly started in his seat, his lolling head jerking upright with a snort.

"Phwuh? Who-" he turned to glare at Cammy, only to end up with an eyeful of breast as Cammy made full use of her height to bend over and dangle them at presentation level. "Woargh!" he drew back in alarm, eyes wide.

Desired effect achieved, Cammy straightened up, a charming smile on her face and eyelids lowered in a look that swung between sleepy and seductive.

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink? As it's mealtime," she extended the menu in a slender hand, putting one foot forward and raising her hip just so, to make her already short skirt ride up that little bit more.

The man paused, looking at the menu, then looking her up and down with tired eyes and a thoughtful expression. Apparently having made his judgement, he frowned, then swatted her hand away sharply.

"Afternoon?" he scoffed. "It's still the early hours where I've come from, and you disturb my sleep with offers of food I cannot eat?"

"We try to help our customers adjust to their new timezone as much as possible," was Cammy's smooth reply, immune to his displeasure. "And of course, this does include mealtimes."

"Do you not read your passenger cards?" the man humphed. "I'm _fasting_."

Of course, Cammy hadn't bothered to read the man's passenger card, but she'd realised that the man was Borginian the moment he had opened his mouth, and it was the Prakshulan holiday this week.

"That's not a problem, sir," she replied in the most informal Borginian she could manage (it was a stupidly formal language to begin with). "You can, of course, fast during mealtimes if you so desire."

The man was starting to cotton on to her tactics now - the effortlessness with which she spoke such crude Borginian was a giveaway to her hidden expertise - and a look of irritation crossed his face.

"I do not pay premium fare to be woken up by incompetently-dressed flight attendants with no rhyme or reason," he snapped in deliberately formal Borginian. "Leave me be!"

"If you wish, sir," Cammy curtseyed, her skirt riding up even more to show the line of her thong through the slit at the side. "I'm your _personal_ ," the word rolled silkily off her tongue, "flight attendant for this journey. If you would like any further assistance, you need only call," then she turned around and walked up the aisle, tipping Rhoda a wink as she edged past the meal trolley.

"Sorted," she said, heading back to bed.

Rhoda sighed, hurrying through the rest of the meals so she could get to the VIP. By the time she got there it appeared the man had fallen asleep again, but she was an expert at detecting feigned sleep now, and this was an issue of damage control.  
"I'm sorry to disturb you again, Mr. Alinari," she said aloud, standing next to him with her meal trolley. "I just wanted to tell you that if you did want any other assistance during your flight, you only have to ask."

Mr. Alinari opened one eye, shrewd Borginian blue regarding her piercingly.

"Hm," he muttered, closing it again. "Trying to make amends? Why do you let that other one get away with such behaviour in the first instance?"

"I..." Rhoda paused, looking down at the meal trolley with its empty trays. She couldn't tell a passenger the truth of the matter. "I have to make do..."

"Making the best of a bad job, hm? Why do you let her anywhere near first class, then?"

Rhoda felt a knot of nervousness in her stomach. This man, Mr. Alinari... his questions were going beyond the realms of normal conversation, but Cammy's actions had trapped her into a corner, and now she would have to try and make up an explanation. Frustration flared up inside her - damn it, Cammy would just say whatever she wanted and then she'd be there to pick up the pieces, always-

"She's a law unto herself." The words tumbled out of her mouth, her hands subconsciously gripping the rubber handles of the trolley.

"She walks all over you, hm?"

"Yes, and I-" Rhoda caught herself there, her face flushing. "I, I've said too much, forgive me, Mr. Alinari, I-"

"There's no forgiving human nature," was the reply.

"I'm still very sorry for the inconvenience," Rhoda bowed low, drawing her professionalism around her like a cloak, to hide and to shield. "I will no longer trouble you on your flight, sir - but if you do require further service, simply press the call button and I will be there to provide assistance."

"I think I can manage without the assistance of either of you," there was an element of amusement to Mr. Alinari's voice now. "Perhaps you're better off considering how you might help each other. An interesting project... an interesting project indeed."

Rhoda straightened up, looking at Mr. Alinari in confusion. He made a shooing gesture at her, his gaze compelling her to follow his action. She walked away with the meal trolley, to get the lift to economy class, and it was only when she was standing in the lift that she realised what a peculiar encounter that had been. She inwardly kicked herself for giving in to that moment of frustration and giving away how things really were to a passenger. She had those moments often, but never before had she actually expressed it like that. Always she kept it to herself, because railing at Cammy was useless and just earned her a telling off from the Captain. It probably didn't matter - it was a short flight, and he hadn't booked a return; they probably wouldn't see him again now, after the treatment he had received from Cammy. Just like so many others. No, she was more unsettled by the way Mr. Alinari had gotten under her skin. His passenger card identified him as a respected priest from one of the more obscure Borginian religions, hence his VIP status, and while she wasn't particularly superstitious, there was definitely something odd about him.

But the monotony of doing the meals in economy class helped to dispel the funny feeling that she had, and after that there was a welcome rest period before the breakfast meals, and shortly after that they would land. She parked the meal trolley away, her legs aching from walking up and down the entire length of the plane. Cammy was already asleep when she entered the cabin, and once she had climbed into bed she was asleep within moments.  
She awoke when the alarm she had set went off. She turned over to where she'd put her mobile phone, fumbling through the rucked sheeting for it, but it wasn't there - she could hear it vibrating, where was it? Then it occurred to her the noise was coming from above her head, from the top bunk.

"Augggghhh," came a groan from above, and the thunk of fist against phone keys, silencing the alarm. "Rhodaaa, why is your fucking phone in my bed?" There was a creak of bed-slats as Cammy turned over.

"Uh..." it was taking a little while for Rhoda to catch up. She was in the bottom bunk, and Cammy was in the top bunk. The bottom bunk was Cammy's bunk. This didn't make sense. "You're in my bed, Cammy," she said slowly. "You're on the top bunk."

There was no reply; Cammy was either asleep or faking it. Rhoda pulled the sheets back and went to sit upright, only to feel a painful tug on her scalp - she had caught her hair, and felt it pulling beneath her hand, so she lifted it, and the tugging sensation stopped. Her hair must've come out of its bun as she slept. She reached behind to grab a hold of it and gather it together, looking behind her for her missing hair-tie. That was when she realised how thick and messy her hair felt, and looking over her shoulder, she finally caught onto the fact that it was way longer than it should be.

And brown.

Her hand flew to her chest, touching bare skin and large breasts where a uniform bib should be. And then she was out of bed, stumbling towards the mirror on long, uncoordinated legs. At the sink Cammy's face stared back at her, a look of horror upon it.

"OH MY GOD! CAMMY!" she shrieked.

"Huh? What? What are you screaming about now?"

Rhoda turned to see her own face peering over the top of the bunk, normally impeccable fringe sticking out every which way, and a sleepy yet irritated look upon it. She saw the expression change to nonplussed - blink once, blink twice.

"Uh..." Cammy pointed at her. "Hang on... what the actual fuck?" She rubbed one eye, taking another look. "Okay, Rhoda, what the hell are you doing? Is this your attempt at actually being funny? Because seriously, that's just-"

"DO I EVEN LOOK LIKE I'M MAKING A JOKE AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME?!" Rhoda was in such a panic that all of her rules for dealing with Cammy went out the window. "I woke up like this! This is nothing to do with me, and you're in the same bloody fix! Look at yourself in the mirror - go on, look, you're me!"

Cammy didn't leave the bed - instead she looked down, seeing a now rather crinkled, although previously starched and ironed uniform bib covering her pride and joys. And patting the back of her head, she could feel the ruthless, complicated bun her black hair had been pulled into. She ripped the bib off, inspecting, then she sighed.

"Fuck's sake, Rhoda - am I stuck with your tiny tits now?"

"Is that the only thought that comes into your tiny _mind_ in a situation like this?!" Rhoda said acidly.

"Well, what the hell else am I supposed to do about it?"

"Help me get to the bottom of it!"

"How? Do you have any idea how it happened, Smarty-Pants? Ooh, talking of which," Cammy sat upright in the bed, being mindful of the ceiling she actually wasn't going to hit anyway, now that she was several inches shorter. Carefully she got into a kneeling position, pulling away the waistband of her skirt. 

"What are you-"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh-HA! I knew you wore granny-pants!" Cammy collapsed back on the bed, clutching her sides in laughter. "Geez, Rhoda, you're like twenty-four going on forty!"

Rhoda flushed bright red to the very roots of her tangled brown hair.

"Shut up, Cammy," she said through gritted teeth. "Shut up, or I'll do nothing about this and you can be stuck with my tiny tits forever."

Cammy managed to choke back her laughter, wriggling back onto her front and propping her head on her hands, looking over the edge of the bunk at Rhoda.

"Okay, being serious, I sure as hell don't want to be taking responsibility for your Godawful suitcases. So what are we gonna do about this? I'm still me and you're still Perfect-Pants, so it's just our bodies that have gone to shit. It all seems a bit," she came out with a Borginian word, "if you ask me."

"A bit what?"

"Voodoo, kinda thing."  
"This has got to be something to do with Mr. Alinari," Rhoda realised. "I had a funny feeling about that man."

"Who?"

"Which means this _is_ your fault!" Rhoda said triumphantly. "He's the VIP whose passenger card you clearly didn't bother to read before you offended him - a priest from the Sect of Eritalikas."

"The Sect of Eriphthalikas," Cammy pronounced it correctly. "Geez, you didn't actually say that to him, did you? Borginians get so pissed off when you mispronounce things. Actually, you'd be a lot more likely to piss him off than I did - I bet you tried to go up to him afterwards and apologise, didn't you?"

"No, I was-"

"Don't lie, Rhoda, you suck at it. And yeah, you might be onto something with that - that Sect is an offshoot of," she reeled off a string of Borginian. "They still go around wearing necklaces of shrunken animal heads, you know."

"I thought you only just scraped through your Borginian studies - how do you know half that stuff? Or are you making it up?"

"I am not shitting you, you get told all this the first day you start learning the language: do not piss off Borginian priests."

"Which is exactly what you've done!" Rhoda pointed out. "Why the hell didn't you read his passenger card?!"

"I wasn't expecting him to be a priest!" Cammy protested. "Borginian Priests don't have money to pay i-fly fares, they're supposed to live off the land and public donations!"

"Well, that's just too bad for you, then, isn't it?" Rhoda retorted.

"Too bad for you too, madame," was Cammy's snap response. "Shows what happens when you try to meddle - if you'd left things be he probably would've just turned me into a frog or something."

"Meddle? I was trying to make amends for your stupid antics! Can you not give me the credit, just this once, for trying to clean up the mess you make every time I let you near the passengers?"

Cammy paused, then she shrugged.

"Beats being a frog, I guess," she conceded. "Look, Rhoda, we're going to be landing in about five hours - we've not got long to corner this guy and try and sort stuff out, if this is because of him."  
"...Yes," Rhoda looked down at herself. The height she was from the ground was going to take a bit of getting used to - and these enormous boobs interfering with her line of sight. "Where's the bib from your uniform, Cammy?"

"Hang on, hang on - I was gonna tidy up and try to act like you so nobody figured there was anything wrong. Can't you do the same?"

"I'm nothing like you, Cammy. And I'm not a master of fakery."

"Geez, can't you pretend for a day? Even a shit imitation is better than a sudden personality swap. The Captain will think I've taken something."

"But I, er," Rhoda looked down at her so-very-exposed chest again, her earlier blush returning.

Cammy looked her up and down. Never had she seen someone look so awkward in their own skin - or her skin, rather. Rhoda stood with her legs slightly crossed, head down, shoulders a little slumped and nervously picking at her fingernails.

"This is a bit of a hopeless case, isn't it?" Cammy sighed. "Alright, if it makes you feel any better - you look like you're about to burst into tears, you know."

"Don't you feel the same?" Rhoda's voice wobbled.

"Nah," Cammy scrambled out of bed, sliding down the bunk ladder. "Just gotta make the best of it, right?" She walked over to her locker, whizzing the dial on the combination lock around. "Wow, you sure have little legs - I keep trying to make big steps on them. That'll take some getting used to." She opened the locker, reaching right to the back to extract her bib. She had to stand on tip-toes to get to it.

"Chin up," she said, turning around to hand it to Rhoda. "At least do my character a bit of justice!" she tipped Rhoda a wink. "If Captain asks, tell him 'Oh, that fucking Rhoda, she's having one of her crusades again - at least wearing this gives me five minutes of peace'. Or something."

"I can't just come out with that! Is that how you talk about me to the Captain all the time?"

"I don't, actually - mainly 'cause you got the hint and gave up on the whole crusading thing after a while."

"Fine," Rhoda had a feeling it would be better not to delve too deeply into that. She fastened the bib onto her front, and with the expanse of rosy cleavage out of sight she felt a little better.

"Don't you dare touch my hair," Cammy threatened.

"Can I not even brush it?"

"Nope. You'll moan about it hurting anyway. Come on, let's go."

"At least sort my hair out! I would never go out like that."

"Oh yeah, alright alright," Cammy tugged a comb through her fringe a few times, tried to tuck it behind her ears but it was too short, and eventually gave up. She spotted Rhoda's hat lying on the table, and picked it up, sticking it at a jaunty angle on her head. Rhoda opened her mouth to object, then realised this really was the last thing she ought to be worried about when it came to letting Cammy out of the cabin, in her body.

Cammy headed towards the door, but as she put her hand on the door handle she hesitated.

"This does actually feel really weird," she admitted.

"You're telling me," Rhoda replied. "Can you not just stay in here and I'll go and speak to Mr. Alinari?"

"Like hell he's gonna listen to you - you're in my body, remember?"

"...Oh. That's true."

"You're really not thinking on your feet right now, are you? That's not like you." Cammy turned around, reaching up a little to take Rhoda by the shoulders, gripping firmly. "C'mon, Rhoda - wake up." Her brown eyes contained an element of pleading. "This is how it is, we've just gotta deal with it, and just 'cause you've got my brain doesn't mean you can't use all the brain cells in it. I need your practical head on right now if we're gonna sort this out."

Rhoda shook herself, stepping back. Cammy let her hands drop, looking at her in question.

"Right," Rhoda nodded. "Sorry. You're right, I'm letting this get to me, and I shouldn't, I should be trying to fix it." She smacked a hand into her palm. "I'm _going_ to fix this."

"That's more like it," Cammy grinned, opening the cabin door with a flourish. "After you," she bowed. "How's that? That's the kind of crap you do, right?"

"It's an attempt, I suppose," Rhoda walked out into the corridor, Cammy following after her. "Well, we've got half an hour till breakfast. Let's do this." 

They took the elevator up to First Class. 

"Don't say a word to him yourself," Cammy said to Rhoda. "That guy knows I speak Borginian now, and if you speak to a Borginian in English when you supposedly know Borginian it's a total insult."

"If he's responsible for us being like this then surely it doesn't matter?"

"Don't care," Cammy said flatly. "Yeah, you make sense, but no, I'm not taking my chances with this guy now I know what he's about."

The lift doors opened onto first class, and Cammy headed straight towards Mr. Alinari's seat.

Rhoda grabbed her by the shoulder, saying,

"Wait, what are you actually going to say to him?"

"Dunno, depends what he says."

"You could at least apologise."

"I'm not apologising for something you've already apologised for probably a billion times already."

Rhoda sighed.

"Okay... just be-"

"Careful, I know I know, sheesh, you just can't stand the thought of having to stand back and let me do the talking for once, can you?"

"Is it any wonder, given your track record?" Rhoda retorted. "The last time I left you alone with the roster manager we were on night flights for a solid fortnight!"

"Oh come on, that was noth-" Cammy broke off under the steely glare of her own blue eyes. "...Okay, so I kinda misread the guy a bit. I won't screw this up, though, promise. It's my neck on the line here too, you know."

"Good luck, then," Rhoda let go of her shoulder.

Cammy paused.

"Shit, you've given me nerves now."

"Go on," Rhoda gestured. "Just go, make something up on the fly - that's what you're good at."

"Heck, I never thought I'd receive a compliment for that out of your mouth!" Cammy grinned.

"Needs must, and all that," Rhoda gave her a gentle push in the back.

"Alright, I'm going," Cammy walked up to Mr. Alinari's seat. 

He was reading the Borginian Daily News. The front page, Cammy read, was chronicling the latest seizure of illegally smuggled Borginian cocoons. That was news to her, but then again, what happened to the stock after it left the plane was nothing to do with her. Although it did explain why she hadn’t been contacted by her runner recently. That was probably a good thing right now – the last thing she needed was her runner requesting a meeting on top of this mess. 

"Good morning, sir," she said in polite Borginian. _Right, try to be like Perfect-Pants, come on, you can do this._ "I have found myself in a spot of difficulty and I believe you may be able to help me out."

Mr. Alinari lowered his newspaper, regarding her with a piercing stare. Cammy just stared right back at him, waiting for him to respond.

"Hm, yes, it's hard to act demure when you're not used to it, isn't it?" he commented, raising one eyebrow.

"I believe you may know exactly where I'm coming from, then, sir," Cammy replied. "And perhaps you are aware of a solution." The formality of her Borginian was strained, belying her frustration. Mr. Alinari was mocking her, and although she was immune to most catty remarks, complaints and attempts to exert authority over her, the one thing she hated was being made a fool of.

"A solution?" Mr. Alinari shrugged, lifting up his newspaper. "There is no solution I can give you." He started reading again.

"...Is there a solution at all?" Cammy wanted to punch a hole right through his newspaper, into his face.

"Of course. I only create change when changes need to be brought about. When the world needs to be seen from a different viewpoint."

"So you meddle when you feel like it, then?" Cammy gave it up now, peppering her speech with Borginian Common Language. "You see something that you think, in your own opinion, needs changing, and that's it, they're lumbered with it?"

"I only meddle when there's a muddle," Mr. Alinari turned the page of his newspaper. "You and your co-worker clearly have some issues that you need to sort out, so go and sort them."

"Oh, finally, you actually give me something I can use instead of talking priesty mumbojumbo," Cammy bowed to him. "Thankyou, sir," she switched back to Formal Borginian. "Your assistance in this matter is much appreciated. I won't bother you any further. Please enjoy your flight."

"I suspect one of you will come and bother me again before long," Mr. Alinari chuckled.

Cammy ignored that and left him, heading to the back of the plane where Rhoda was waiting.

"He's not going to help," she explained. "We've got to sort it out ourselves."

"So it is him, then?"

"Yeah, and he finds it fucking hilarious," Cammy said bitterly.

"Fine, never mind him, then - he can laugh as much as he likes, we'll come up with a solution on our own." Rhoda had regained a bit of her spark now.

"Easy for you to say - you didn't have to stand there the whole time with him making fun of you and talking in dumb riddles."

"Well, it's over and done with now. Did he tell you anything else that might be useful?"

"Kind of. You and me need to have a talk."

"Let's do the breakfasts first, then."

"Screw the breakfasts, everyone in first class is still asleep apart from Ali-Oop, and I bet Economy's no different." Cammy grabbed her by the hand. "Cabin, now."

“Cammy!” Rhoda exclaimed as Cammy dragged her towards the lift.

“It’s Rhoda, Rhoda,” Cammy corrected her, then paused. “...Cammy. Ah, fuck it. This is confusing the hell out of me,” she let go of Rhoda’s hand to jab the lift button irritably.

“What’s that noise?” Rhoda looked down. “I’m beeping!”

“Huh?” Cammy listened, hearing the faint peeping noise. “Oh, that’s my pager... er, in your side pocket,” she pointed.

Rhoda felt it starting to vibrate and fished it out, handing it to her.

“Oh crap,” Cammy looked at the display. “That was the Captain paging me.”

“For...?”

Cammy paused.

“Ignore it,” she said quickly, switching it off and handing it back to her.

“But what if he wants-“

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Cammy,” Rhoda folded her arms. “I don’t want to get into trouble with him just because you don’t want to answer it.”

The lift arrived, and they stepped in.

“Just leave it, alright?” Cammy snapped. “It’s nothing important-“

“No, I’m not going to leave it,” Rhoda pressed the button for the flight deck before Cammy could get to the basement button. “I’m perfectly capable of dealing with a request from the Captain, even if I’m in your body – you just don’t want me to embarrass you, and I won’t, if you’d actually trust me.”

“Augh!” Cammy rounded on her. “You silly bint, why can’t you listen to me for once?!”

“If you ever actually gave me a straight out answer to something then maybe I might!” Rhoda snapped back at her.

“If you didn’t question and nitpick at every little thing I do then maybe I would!” Cammy had her hands fisted against her hips now, making up for her lack of height with furious posture. “Dammit, you won’t even let me help you without giving me the Grand Inquisition!”

“Help me with _what_ , Cammy?”

“Why the hell do you think the Captain would page a lazy arse like me?” Cammy demanded. “Think about it, Rhoda!”

There was a silence, and then Cammy saw the look of horror descending upon her own face. It matched the horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach right now, because she knew exactly what Rhoda was about to go through.

“Oh God, is he going to...?”

There was a sickening lurch as the lift halted at the flight deck. With the jolt of it, Cammy was struck with an idea.

“No,” she said firmly. “I won’t let him.”

“But how-“

Cammy grabbed her hand, shooting her a furious glare. “Always with the questions! Trust me, I’ve got this.”

The lift doors opened, and Cammy emerged, dragging Rhoda with her.

“You’re in trouble. Like, mega-deep shit. Play along. Got it?” she muttered to Rhoda. “Captain!” she barked. “Are you available for a moment?”

Rhoda was quick to catch on.

“Let _go_ of me, Rhoda,” she shouted, trying to wrest her hand from Cammy’s grip. “I’m not being frogmarched across the flight deck for trial at your kangaroo court!”

The Captain turned to look around the side of his pilot’s seat, and Cammy summoned up what she hoped was the most angry, ugly face she could imagine. The Captain’s face fell at the sight of her, and he groaned, shaking his head.

“What’s the problem now, you two?” he asked.

“The problem is why she’s even still employed, in my opinion!” Cammy fumed. “I made the mistake of letting her serve the VIP, and now he’s asking for a refund and compensation for offence to his sensibilities!”

“I did nothing of the sort!” Rhoda protested. “Captain, I just did my job, the way she told me to, and now she’s just kicking up this massive hullaballoo over nothing at all!”

“As if offending a Borginian priest is nothing at all!” Cammy retorted. _Oh sheesh, the irony of this is a killer._

“You being naughty, huh, Cammy?” the Captain stood up and shot a glance at Cammy – well, it was more of a leer, and Rhoda wanted to look away, nearly shuddering in revulsion. But she pushed that down, returning a steely glare.

“I haven’t done anything,” she said sullenly. “But you’re just gonna believe Rhoda, ‘cause that’s what you always do.” As she said it, she realised that all those private ‘disciplinary’ sessions the Captain carried out were a complete farce. And with what she had just said, she was setting herself up for another one. Mentally, she kicked herself.

“Well, it’s not like Rhoda to come and complain to the flight deck with no good reason,” the Captain drawled, folding his arms. “I think you and I need to have a chat, don’tcha think?”

“Oh no, I didn’t need you for that, Captain,” Cammy smiled pleadingly at him, knowing she was treading a very fine line. “The gentleman, er, shall we say he took issue more with the way Cammy was _trained_ ,” she improvised, “and he wanted to take up the issue with Central Office personally!” 

The Captain made a face in response to this. Nobody wanted Central Office breathing down their neck.

“So,” Cammy continued, “I promised the gentleman I would speak with the Captain personally, and that you would deliver an apology to him on behalf of i-Fly. Would you be willing to do that, Captain?”

“Ah, sheesh,” the Captain sighed. “Well, if it gets Central Office off our backs, then I’ll do it.” He nodded to his co-pilot, who flashed him a thumbs-up and pressed a few buttons to take full control of the jet. “You better not cause any more upset, my love, or I’ll have to give you a good talking to,” he laid a hand on Rhoda’s shoulder and slid it down her arm as he walked past her, following Cammy out of the room.

Rhoda waited till the lift doors had shut before rubbing at her arm, feeling defiled. She looked over at the co-pilot, who hadn’t even noticed what the Captain had done. The plane wobbled a little as it hit a patch of turbulence, and he seemed engaged in the matter of easing the plane through it. Maybe he partook in a few ‘disciplinary sessions’ with Cammy too. Rhoda felt a flash of anger. Why did Cammy let the Captain use her like that, a plaything for his amusement on redeye flights? She couldn’t understand how the preferential treatment from him could ever be worth his sexual attentions. At least while Cammy was in her body, she would be safe from the Captain’s advances for a little while. She waited a few minutes, to be sure the coast was clear, then recalled the elevator. It was only when she was in the elevator heading back to the basement that she realised that Cammy’s hastily executed plan had a flaw.

Cammy had already come to the same realisation, as she and the Captain walked through the rows of sleeping passengers. She had no qualms about bothering Mr. Alinari again, he seemed almost resigned to it and it was in the name of making the whole scenario plausible to the Captain. But that relied on him being awake.

“Let sleeping dogs lie, huh?” the Captain commented, nodding at the sleeping priest.  
“Ah, he was awake when I left him,” Cammy said, mentally kicking herself for not accounting for this in her plan. “Shall I come and find you again when he wakes up?”

The Captain smiled toothily.

“Just send Cammy up, I’m sure you have plenty to be getting on with.”

 _Oh, fuck you,_ Cammy thought. _You just can’t survive a flight without copping a feel, can you?_

She smiled sweetly at him.

“Of course, Captain,” she said.

The Captain turned around and headed towards the elevator, pressing the button. The elevator was already making its way down, so it stopped on the First Class level.

“Well, hello, troublemaker,” the Captain grinned as the doors opened, stepping into the elevator. “Guess I’m getting a free ride via the basement to get back to the flight deck.”

 _Shit!_ Cammy moved as fast as Rhoda’s short legs could carry her, and made a dive for the elevator button, but the doors closed and the elevator began its descent to the basement. _Shit, shit shit,_ she smacked the flat of her hand against the elevator door, resting her head against it. _I’m sorry, Rhoda. I’m so sorry._

Then she ran for the stairs.

“You’re more covered up than usual,” the Captain commented, looking Rhoda up and down.  
It took everything Rhoda had to answer back casually.

“Ah, bloody Rhoda made me do that for serving the priest.”

“Well, you’re serving somebody else, now, my love,” the Captain snickered, reaching a hand up towards the bib of her uniform.

Rhoda stared at him, her face pale.

_He’s actually going to do this._

His hand slid beneath her bib, prising apart the snap fasteners that kept it attached. 

_And I’m going to let him do it._

She stood motionless, completely paralysed. He leaned in, pushing his face into her neck, his other hand reaching towards her bottom.

“No,” escaped from her mouth, barely audible.

The Captain paused.

“No?” he breathed into her neck. “Why would you want to say no?” He planted his hand on her buttocks, squeezing hard.

 _Because,_ she realised, _I’m Cammy and I do whatever the hell I want to._

So she kneed him in the balls.

“Gurrrgh!” the Captain gurgled, sinking onto his knees, clutching at his testicles. “What the fuck-“

“I don’t have to give you a reason, Captain,” Rhoda said quietly as the lift stopped at the basement level. “But if you want one, I’ve had a bad day. A fucking _shit_ day, in fact,” she revelled in the profanity. “Here, have your pager back,” she tossed it at his feet and walked out of the elevator. “Now you can shove it up your backside and get all the pleasure you want.”

The elevator doors closed on the Captain’s groaning noises, and the elevator went on its way back up to the Flight Deck. Rhoda stood there, looking at the metal elevator doors for a few moments, trying to process what she’d just done.

Cammy stumbled into the room, breathless from having run the length of the plane and down the emergency stairwell.

“Rhoda!” she exclaimed, catching sight of her. “Shit, Rhoda, I’m sorry, I fucked up, I-“ she broke off as Rhoda sank to her knees in front of the elevator. “Oh God, what did he do to you?” She hurried over to Rhoda, kneeling down next to her.

“Cammy,” Rhoda said slowly. “If you were that worried about what he would do to me, then why the hell did you put up with him doing it to you?”

“Er,” Cammy paused, a little nonplussed by her question. “Well. I dunno.”

“Did you not feel like the dirt on someone’s shoe every time he used you like that?”

Cammy was silent.

“Or did you just get used to it?”

Cammy’s lack of response answered the question for her. It answered a lot of things, actually. Her unkempt appearance and general lack of care for anything, her reluctance to interact with the passengers, acting on her own terms wherever she actually could. So many things.

“Well, you might not need to worry about that anymore.”

“Huh?” Cammy looked at her, confused.

The wound spring of tension inside Rhoda finally snapped, and she started to laugh.

“Rhoda?”

“I kneed him in the balls,” Rhoda choked it out amidst her laughter.

Cammy stared at her, completely bewildered.

“You seriously did what?” she said in a strangled voice.

But she got no reply from Rhoda, who was laughing too much to be able to talk.

“Oh Jesus fucking Christ.” Cammy was at a loss for anything other than an expletive. But there was no malice in it, for she had just imagined the scenario that had likely transpired in the elevator. “Ha,” she tried to suppress it, but it was no good. “PAAAAAAHAHAHAHA,” and she was gone.

It took a few minutes for them both to recover their composure.

“Fuck me, Rhoda, I didn’t know you had it in you,” Cammy said, breathless.

“Well... I’m not sure I did have it in me, actually,” Rhoda admitted. “If I hadn’t been you, I don’t think I would have done it.”

Cammy tried to make sense of that.

“But I wouldn’t have done that,” she pointed out. “I would’ve just put up with it because... yeah,” she shrugged.

“I know, but,” Rhoda struggled to explain, “oh, you know what I mean, it’s like,” the word she came out with drained all the colour from Cammy’s face.

“Jesus,” Cammy whispered.

“What?” Rhoda asked.

“Rhoda... that was Borginian.”

“What was?”

“You don’t even know that you’ve said it, do you?” Cammy repeated the word. “The closest English is ‘sharing a mind’.”

“Oh...” the significance of this was finally becoming clear. “Oh God...” Rhoda looked at her reflection in the doors of the elevator, seeing her own body knelt next to her. 

“No,” Cammy grabbed her arm, sensing that she was about to break down. “Don’t think about it. Not right now. The more you think, the more you’ll know. Get up,” she began to stand, pulling on Rhoda’s arm. “C’mon, Rhoda, you’re the last person to piss about when there’s stuff to be done!”

“What stuff?” Rhoda said despondently. “Like translating things into Borginian? Hah.”

“No, idiot, that’s Cammy stuff,” Cammy emphasised carefully, trying to quell the knot of panic developing in her stomach. “We need to do Rhoda stuff, like the breakfasts, how about that? That’s a Rhoda thing, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, come on, then!” Cammy tugged on her arm again. It was like pulling a deadweight. Rhoda was staring at herself in the mirror, then she hung her head, messy bangs falling forward to cover her face.

“You’re Rhoda, you do it.”

Cammy dropped her arm.

“Oh, I see,” she said, frustration rising within her. “That’s how it is, huh?”

“That,” Rhoda lifted her head and turned to face her, eyes challenging her, “is how it’s always fucking been.”

The slap rang out across the basement, the sound echoing down the corridor.

“Snap out of it, Rhoda, for fuck’s sake!” Cammy shouted at her. “Don’t lose yourself, damn it! I’m not you, you’re not me and neither of us will be because I’m a lazy good-for-nothing piece of shit and you’re too good for that!”

Rhoda clamped her hand to her cheek, an involuntary tear escaping from her eye on the side she had been slapped.

“Do you know...” she said, “how many times I’ve wanted to smack you one, when you’ve started your usual rubbish about not wanting to do the breakfasts?”

“And you never did.”

“I should’ve.”

“Yup,” Cammy said simply. “I don’t know why you put up with my shit, ‘cause I sure as hell don’t. But then, if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be the Rhoda I know anymore. I’m sorry for hitting you like that, but you needed some of your sense slapped back into you as you seemed to be losing it. Now c’mon, get up.” 

Rhoda rubbed her cheek, which was still stinging from the slap she’d received. She felt a little more grounded now. She slowly got to her feet.

“I don’t think I know how to _not_ put up with it, actually,” she said, a little resigned.

“Well, I didn’t think you would knee the Captain in the balls,” Cammy grinned, causing Rhoda to crack a smile. “Who knows what other surprises you have in store for me?”

“I think...” Rhoda said hesitantly, “I’m starting to see a side of myself I didn’t know I had. I was just so angry at him, for what he was doing, that he thought he could just do that to you with no repercussions, and so I... I just did what I wanted to do. Because I was you, and I could. But I shouldn’t have. This is your body-”

“There’s no ‘shouldn’t have’ here,” Cammy said. “It’s something I should’ve done long ago, Rhoda. I could’ve said no at any time, told him where to go, or whatever. But I didn’t, and you were right. I didn’t care enough about myself to stop him, and then I just got used to it. But it’s funny, you know? You put up with me being a lazy arse, and then when you see something’s not right that’s nothing to do with you, you fight your corner.”

They walked down the corridor together, to where the breakfast trolleys were stowed.

“I don’t really know why I do that,” Rhoda admitted.

“Maybe you just like to martyr yourself?” Cammy suggested, pulling back the clips that anchored the trolleys against the walls and kicking one of them towards Rhoda. “Have a present.”

“Wait, you think I _enjoy_ struggling with things on my own when you won’t help?” Rhoda said indignantly, catching the trolley and swinging it around towards the elevator with a practiced flick of the wrist.

Cammy grinned. “Y’know what, I think deep down, a part of you does. You’ve got principles by the bucketload, so if you felt that badly done by ‘cause of me not being arsed, then you would’ve had me sacked ages ago.”

“...Augh!” Rhoda knew she’d been bamboozled by Cammy logic and had no comeback for this at all, much as she wanted to argue against it. “Just... shut up. And help me with the breakfasts.”

“I’m helping already, geez,” Cammy followed her into the elevator, pushing the second trolley. “Who’s gonna want shitty wholesale cornflakes and UHT milk anyway?”

“Some people do.”

“Well, they’re wrong. I had some once when I was really hungry and it was probably the worst mistake of my life.”

“Don’t tell the passengers that. Not as me. Please.”

Cammy laughed, pushing the button for Economy Class.

“Now why on earth would I do that? I’m Rhoda Perfect-Pants Teneiro, model attendant and ambassador for i-Fly! All the breakfasts are wonderful! Glorious! Delightful! May your path to heaven be lined with fucking cornflakes!”

“Oh, shut up, I do _not_ talk like that!”

“Okay, maybe that was a little over the top, even for you.”

The elevator door opened and Cammy pushed her trolley out into the aisle. She tipped a wink to Rhoda, who made a face at her in response. Cammy grinned and disappeared. Rhoda would just have to trust her. She made her way up to First Class. It was only then that she realised that Cammy had voluntarily taken her trolley through to the Economy Class cabin, which she normally kicked up a massive fuss about having to do anything for. Rhoda felt a little relieved. Maybe there was hope for a change in her too.

Cammy did the meals on auto-pilot, smiling at the passengers and tipping milk onto their cornflakes. It wasn’t that she actually hated doing this, she just found it so mind-numbingly dull that she just didn’t really care. The passengers had been on the plane for over eight hours at this point, and she rather imagined they didn’t care either – food was food. She was thinking about what Mr. Alinari had said to her. She still hadn’t really had a chance to tell Rhoda what they needed to do in order to switch places. But perhaps she didn’t need to. She was acutely aware of the change in the other flight attendant, and had a feeling that when they each got their bodies back, she would not be getting away with nearly as much extra sleep. Normally she would have found that annoying, and probably she would in the future, but for now, she actually felt pleased to have helped Rhoda finally grow a spine. But she knew she couldn’t claim all the credit for that. As Rhoda had said, it was a side that she didn’t know she had – and it had probably been there all along, waiting to be discovered.

But Cammy didn’t feel like she herself had changed very much. After Rhoda’s use of Borginian earlier she had panicked, going over phrases in her mind – but she still knew them all. It wasn’t a big effort to be polite to the passengers, although Rhoda did it effortlessly regardless of how much sleep she’d had or how many other things there were for her to do. It was just more fun to wake them up a bit with a well-placed eyeful of her cleavage. She looked down, seeing Rhoda’s small but pert breasts. Well, that wasn’t really so achievable here.

“Excuse me?”

Cammy stopped, turning at the sound of the voice.

“What?” she said, then hurriedly added, “...can I do to help you, sir?” with a smile.

“Er,” the passenger said, “I heard you have a shop on board? Whereabouts is it?”

“Oh.” That was an easy enough request. “It’s just down-“ she stopped herself. She was meant to be Rhoda, after all. “If you give me a few moments to finish these last few meals, I can take you there,” she offered.

“Yes, please, and thankyou,” the passenger smiled gratefully at her.

Cammy served up the last few bowls of cornflakes, locked away the trolley and walked the passenger through to the shop.

“Is there anything in particular you want?” she asked him.

“Well, I’m not sure, really,” the passenger admitted. “I’m looking for a gift for my wife, she’s coming back to Zheng Fa with me in a few days time and we’re finally going to live together again – I’ve been working in Zheng Fa for three years now and she’s only just been able to get a job out there.”

“Okay,” Cammy nodded. She scanned the shop’s display cabinets. Playing cards, jewellery, the iFly mascot... “Actually, wouldn’t a big suitcase be useful?” she found herself saying.

“Er, I’m not sure,” the passenger said. “Maybe?”

“Well, if she’s moving to Zheng Fa with you, she’s gonna want a decent sturdy suitcase to put all her things in, right?”

“I hadn’t thought of that. What have you got?”

Cammy walked to where the iFly suitcases were parked and pulled the chock out from one of them, wheeling it towards the passenger.

“That’s really bright,” the passenger made a face.

“Yup, that’s the beauty of it,” Cammy grinned. “She’ll never miss it on the luggage belt! These patterned suitcases are all the rage just now, but you won’t find any quite like this one. It’s pretty unique.”

The passenger looked at it dubiously.

“Well,” Cammy twirled the suitcase around with a flick of the wrist, “It’s up to you, but I think they’re pretty stylish. They make a statement, to say the least.”

 _Did... I just say that?_ she thought in disbelief. The words were tumbling off her tongue like a glib sales pitch.

“No offence intended, but they’re pretty horrendous,” the passenger said, holding his hand out.

Cammy wanted to agree with him but the words just wouldn’t come. Instead she gave him the handle of the suitcase. He pushed the suitcase back and forth experimentally. If there was one thing going for it, it was as Cammy had said – it was sturdy.

“But my wife would love these colours, so I guess I’ll take one,” he said.

“Alright, paying by card, yeah?” she asked, heading for the till and feeling a sense of achievement and elation that was most definitely not her own.

She rang up the sale and the man handed over his credit card without even commenting on the price of what he was buying – Zheng Fa expats got paid a lot. He seemed fairly happy with his purchase.

After the passenger left, Cammy leaned on the counter, looking across at the suitcases. They weren’t actually all that bad. The green swirls almost looked like flowers.

“No, no!” she shook herself. “They’re fucking awful, I know that,” she looked at the suitcases again, feeling a sense of pride at a job well done, although there was also a tinge of sadness that they weren’t selling as well as she’d hoped. “Oh God, this really is the end of the world as I know it,” Cammy clutched her head. “C’mon, get a grip – they’re hideous, they’re hideous.”

It was no good. In the end, she had to leave the room. Rhoda found her in the basement, sitting on the bottom bunk and looking dejected.

“What’s up?” Rhoda asked, sitting next to her.

Cammy waved her off. “It’s nothing. You wouldn’t understand anyway.”

“Try me,” Rhoda offered.

“Bah.” Cammy told her what had happened.

“But that’s great!” Rhoda exclaimed, delighted.

“See, I told you, you wouldn’t understand.”

“I do,” Rhoda said. “You don’t have to be nice about it, I know you actually hate them.”

“I do. But now, apparently, I don’t.”

“I think you still do, really. But that’s okay. I’ve gotten kind of used to the idea that they’re not going to be a hit.”

“That’s good, ‘cause you’d be deluding yourself otherwise.” Cammy looked up at the clock on the wall. “An hour till we land, Rhoda.”

“That means we’ve really only got half an hour, if that, before we’ll be busy preparing the cabin for landing.”

Cammy sighed. “I don’t think we’re gonna be able to do it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to get our bodies back.”

“Don’t say that. We will,” Rhoda reassured her. “Somehow. But if you say we won’t, then we definitely won’t. You can’t give up hope!”

“I dunno. Maybe we should just let it happen,” Cammy said listlessly. “With the way we’re both behaving, maybe we’ll just become one another anyway.”

Rhoda regarded her levelly. “Cammy. In all seriousness, do you really think you could be me?”

“I don’t know,” Cammy shrugged. “In fact, how the fuck should I know?”

“Ah, but you do know,” Rhoda said triumphantly. “See, what I’ve come to realise through all this is that actually you’re far more clever than I ever gave you credit for. You just hide it all by not caring about anything. You can’t fool me anymore, Cammy.”

“I know I can’t, but you’re the one who’s actually changed for the better, Rhoda. Look at you – look at that confidence you have now. You carry my tits better than I ever did.”

“But you have changed,” Rhoda said, flushing a little at Cammy’s compliment. “I don’t think there was much about yourself that you needed to come to terms with, Cammy. You know all your strengths and flaws, and you play them to the hilt.”

“No, you don’t get it,” Cammy said. “Mr. Alinari said we needed to see the world from a different viewpoint, that we had issues that we needed to sort out. You might have sorted yours, but I don’t really feel any different. I can pretend to be polite, I can sell your godawful suitcases, I can do jobs when I’m told to... but I’m still me inside, and I’m just faking it like always!” she slammed her fist against the metal of the bunk, making a loud clanging noise that reverberated around the basement. “And I don’t know how to fucking change it, you’ve done your bit, and I can’t fucking do mine, and so we’re going to be stuck like this...” her voice quavered a little. “I don’t know how not to pretend, Rhoda. And that’s why I could never be you. Everything you do is sincere and genuine. That’s something I’m never going to be!”

Her view of the lockers opposite the bunk bed blurred. She could feel the prickling in her eyes, the dampness at the corners, and she closed them for a moment.

_Fuck, I’m crying._

She opened her eyes and the feeling was gone, her vision was clear.

“Cammy!”

She turned, to see Rhoda sitting there, tears beginning to roll down her face, but she was smiling.

“You did it,” she said.

And the sight of Rhoda, back in her own body once more, was enough to bring the tears to Cammy’s eyes all over again.   
“...It’s good to see you, Rhoda,” she said, letting out a sob. Rhoda put her arm around her, and they cried tears of relief onto each other for a good few minutes.

“That was all I needed to do?” Cammy said, voice cracking from the tears. “Just accept that we were too different to ever be the same?”

“Or maybe see each other as we really are,” Rhoda said, wiping tears from her face with her hand. “I don’t know. I don’t think we’ll ever really know.”

“Ladies and gentleman, this is your Captain speaking,” the Captain still sounded a bit strained over the tannoy. “We are beginning our descent into Borginia in approximately ten minutes. The weather is looking pleasant at eighty degrees Fahrenheit with light winds and a scatter of cloud. We should be arriving on the stand at BTA approximately ten minutes earlier than scheduled. On behalf of i-Fly I thank you all for flying with us, and cabin crew,” that word came out a little pained, “would you please prepare the cabin for landing.”

Rhoda and Cammy straightened up, exchanging glances. Rhoda giggled.

“I don’t even know what I’m gonna say to him when I see him next, you know,” Cammy said. “He’s utterly besotted with me.”

“Just tell him he’s deluded,” Rhoda grinned.

“Rhoda!” Cammy exclaimed. “I can’t say that, he’s the Captain!”

“Hey, you’re not in my body, you don’t have to be polite anymore. If I can kick him in the balls, you can tell him he’s being an idiot,” Rhoda said, standing up, looking in the mirror to wipe away the last of the tears. She tugged on her fringe, trying to get it looking a little more respectable.

Cammy shrugged, getting up. “Y’know, it might be kinda funny for me to say that to him, just to see what he does.”

“I’d like to be a fly on the wall when you do that.”

“Damn, Rhoda, since when did you have such a vindictive streak?” Cammy laughed. “You’re not supposed to agree with me.”

“Ah, well,” Rhoda said airily, “I guess a bit of schadenfreude makes the world go round.”

“I guess I can’t legitimately call you Perfect-Pants anymore,” Cammy sounded a little disappointed.

“You still can. It would feel weird if you didn’t. Now come on,” Rhoda fixed her hat so it looked suitably smart. Cammy immediately put her own at the jaunty angle she preferred. “There is work to be done!”

“That implies you expect me to do it.”

“Well, you’re going to have to get off the plane anyway while they clean it so it’s not like you can get any more sleep,” Rhoda pointed out. “You do First Class, I’ll do Economy.”

“I guess that’s a deal I can deal with,” Cammy conceded. “Wait, where’s the usual fight over me wanting to do First Class and you not wanting me to?”

“We’re landing in twenty minutes, Cammy, so I’ll take whatever help you’ll give me. Move it!” Rhoda spun her round and pushed her towards the elevator, the two of them laughing.

In First Class, Mr. Alinari put down his newspaper, watching Cammy moving up the aisles and taking away all the used breakfast bowels, making sure all the tray tables were stowed and the baggage lockers were shut. She paused by his seat, checking the baggage locker above him.

“I see you have sorted things out,” Mr. Alinari smiled, speaking in Borginian.

“Yeah,” Cammy replied, noncommittally.

“And things are better, yes?”

“...Perhaps.” She wasn’t going to give him any more than that. “Didn’t mean you had to stick your nose in, though.”

“One never sticks one’s nose in anywhere that it is wanted. That is the whole point of the adage, is it not?” said Mr. Alinari.

“Well, I suppose it could’ve been worse. You could’ve turned me into a frog,” Cammy checked the baggage locker on the other side. It hadn’t quite shut, so she re-opened it and clicked it shut.

“That’s a rather outdated approach to things, don’t you think?”

“What would’ve happened if we hadn’t done anything?” Cammy asked.

“Well, you’ll never know.”

“Ah, fine. I don’t care anyway.”

“But you would have cared if it had happened. The fact that it didn’t, is in itself proof that you care.”

Cammy didn’t really have an answer for that. She knew it was true.

“I have work to do, so I need to move on,” she said, stowing his tray table for him. “Please enjoy the remainder of your flight, and don’t fall down the stairs when you disembark, much as I’d like you to.”

Mr. Alinari chuckled in response to that. He was probably the first Borginian priest she’d met to have any kind of a sense of humour.

“Farewell, Cammy Meele,” he said.

Cammy was just buckling herself down into the flight attendant’s seat for landing when she realised that she’d never actually told him her name.

“Bloody priests,” she sighed. Rhoda, sat next to her, nodded in agreement. “We don’t have any on the next flight, do we?”

“No. Instead we’ve got the Los Angeles High Prosecutor and the art collector, Zinc Leblanc.”

“Ugh,” Cammy made a face. “You can keep those two, Leblanc’s an asshole. Dibs on the meals next flight, then.”

“I don’t mind,” Rhoda’s cheeks were a little pink. “I think the High Prosecutor would be a nice VIP.”

Cammy looked over at her and grinned. 

“Do you now?” she said wickedly as the plane touched down on the runway with a bump.

Rhoda’s retort was lost in the whine of the engines as the plane braked.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Borginia,” the Captain said over the tannoy.

Alerted by the engine noise, High Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth glanced up from his laptop to the viewing window in the First Class lounge, seeing the i-Fly plane approaching to dock at his scheduled gate. He returned to his work, satisfied that they would be boarding soon. The long flight back to LA would be dull, but at least it would be uneventful after the events of the last day or two.

Inside the terminal building, Cammy looked at her phone, seeing a message from her runner.

“Sign all manifests as loaded for next flight. Alif Red will not be loaded.”

She began composing a reply.

“Fine. But I want out after this. No more.”

She had begun to realise that while there were some things about herself that she wouldn’t want to change, this, at least, was one bit of fakery she could stop doing.

***

The End.


End file.
